Here’s what I remember: Spoiler alert, no one dies in this one. Ira, my dad’s dad, made his own beer. One day, he and a friend realized they only had one jug of beer left. The family was living in the gas station at the crossroads in Sonora, where 31W crosses 84. Ira managed the …
Continue reading “The Incident of the Beer Still in the Night Time pt. 1”
Here’s what I remember: Myrtle was an aunt, married to…Henry? They lived at the end of Muriel Town Road. Myrtle would “get out” sometimes and show up knocking on Ira and Lennie’s front door (my dad’s parents). See, Myrtle was off. And this was a time when you kept it in the family. Henry was …
Here’s what I remember: My father was a boy scout leader. He and other troop leaders, whose names I don’t recall although his brother Dale may have been among them, took the boys out one night into the forest. Picture a group of 8-10 year old boys walking among the trees with their little flash …
Continue reading “The Mule Skinner of Buzzard’s Hollow, pt. 1”
Here’s the story I remember: Mr. Tingle was a jeweler in Louisville, but lived with his mother on Knob School House Road. She was confined to a wheel chair. He was not married. One evening, my dad was on the back deck of the house in which I spent every other weekend, and six weeks …
Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking” is the first memoir I have read for this project. I finished it several weeks ago. It chronicles the year after the unexpected passing of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and the roller coaster of Quintana’s, her daughter’s, health and near death that year. My father’s passing was …
My sweet Bullseye passed. He was 15? 16? He had lived with my dad before the seven years he spent with me. It brought up a lot. It all happened quick – blood work on Monday showed elevated liver enzymes, ultrasound Wednesday showed masses on his liver and spleen, issues with the pancreas, likely lymphoma. …
The past month has been wild. I’ve already discovered more than I thought I would, but there’s so much more I want to know! I’d honestly been disheartened after the walls I hit last week, but this morning I received a text from a friend at a local news station. I’d asked her about the …
I’ll never forget the thrill I felt when I found the clipping titled, “Skeleton Found in August, 1965 is Identified.” I don’t remember what I searched or how I located it – maybe just “skeleton” and “Waverly Hills.” This was the clip that gave Babyface a name. I’ll never forget the thrill I felt on …
The recorded high on May 22, 1965 – the last day Carolyn was seen alive – was 82. The dew point was 65 and there was no recorded rain. If she left in the morning for work, this was likely a comfortable commute. The average temperature that August, the month her body was discovered near …
Here’s the story I remember: My dad’s cousin ran away to Louisville and disappeared. She had a name but was called Babyface because the metal work in her mouth made her cheeks puffy. Everyone assumed that she had gotten into drugs and probably become a prostitute. But, years later, her body was discovered on the …
Stories from Dad